Outside, Andromeda stands down, with only a quick warning to Professor Mecklenheim not to try to touch her.
"12% doesn't reach the minimum standards for a social event." She thinks back to some of the methods that Xaiara tried out to connect with her. "Should we go back to your room? We can pick out a new outfit. I know that Sam does want to go to the party, and doesn't want you to hurt her other friends."
"Let's do something Sam would want a friend to do?"
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"You're also friends with Indarius, who is a wonderful influence on you. And Devil Diva, who is a great influencer!" Chroknight points out, trying to help. A small light has popped up in their HUD somehow. A system they didn't know about?
Activate CORVIS assistance? Y/N
Chroknight used the ocular sensor to select Y, before something surprising happened. Something on their back plates of armor opened up - it felt like something had just dropped down behind them. And out of nowhere, an almost comically shaped crow with bright and expressive eyes strutted between their legs, before cawing up at them.
CORVIS online! Temporal integrity within acceptable parameters! Analysis mode online! Ready to assist, Ser knight! The HUD lit up with text that seemed to be from the crow below.
"...well that's new. Uh, new friend?" They suggest to Sam.
Sam watches Andromeda, then Chronknight, her expression blank (as normal), then her eyes widen a tiny amount at the crow. Her threads weave forward, touching, sensing, recording, everything about the construct, if that is what it is. A sure sign of Incredible interest from the young woman. "Crows are considered highly intelligent for urban avifauna."
The handsome youth gives him a nod, then greets all the others already in Archie's and Ryan's party. "I hope you invited some ladies," he smirks.
"As far as I know, he did invite everyone... but if they will come, dat is anoder ting, considering who invited dem." Gui says, joking of course, but realizing Johnny had a very good point, for Gui had so far neglected the web of gossips regarding the girls from the new school.
From personal experience, Gui knew that many guys prefer to drink and talk with their mates first and only when they've got some liquid courage going they'd talk with girls. But, for Gui, that wasn't really an option for the further the party goes, the more overwhelming it becomes to him.
"Oh, here dey are!" He says to Johnny, before stepping back and smiling. "See you later..." Then turns to a group a girls arriving and moves closer to them, hoping to test the waters.
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Channeling their inner Chloe, Chroknight gestures to Jessie. "I think that we all should probably apologize properly, right?" They ask of the spider summoner. Be the girl she wants for her girl.
[dice=Provoke Jessie to apologize to the Governess]2d6+0
Jessie scowls and shakes her head vehemently. "No! She kicked me out of school! What'd I do?!?! Why should I apologize?" She blinks at the masked and power-suited being. "Omigod, you're a robot too."
Outside, Ava moves her head in a slightly jerky way to look at Andromeda. "Have you ceased hostilities? I cannot leave my friend before she is--" Her eyes go unfocused for a moment. Subdirectives of unknown origin detected. Undergoing system diagnostics."
In moments, Ava's movement smooth out. She looks down at herself. "New attire would be appropriate. We may go."
Back inside, the Governess appears to be processing the new information. After a moment, the image on the screen says, "That is a... start. Perhaps with guidance your friends will be good influences on you."
Andromeda nods and tries a small smile, acutely aware that she has moved from fighting to fashion. Maybe I'll learn something though.
The smile firms. "Let's go, Ava. I think this is something we'd both rather be doing."
I neutralized the biggest gun, tin can. You'd better be sufficient to protect her against what's left. Or at least sufficient to make a big enough boom that I can come back.
Ava collects the tatters of her sweater, throws it over her shoulders, then follows Andromeda towards the girls' dorms. "I'm quite dirty as well. I should shower first." She slows her gait before approaching the areas where the other students congregate and again inspects herself, ensuring the remaining bits of fabric cover any exposed electronics that would give her away as synthetic. "Andromeda. Since you are now aware of my status as an Androidian, could you assist in sealing my dermal breaches before I get wet? You are, after all, partially responsible for them."
Gui sees that the first group of girls to arrive are Ne'veah, Gwen, and Kennedy. Of the trio, only Kennedy appears fully human. Ne'veah is the dark-furred catgirl and Gwen has white feathery hair and a black band across her eyes.
When they reach the dorm and start to go inside, Ne'veah's fur rises and she hisses reflexively. "This isn't right," she mutters.
"Hell yeah it's not right!" Kennedy exclaims. "How'd they get a dorm this big!! Wait." She sticks her head out and counts the doors, then leans back in, her face full of confusion.
"That's on me!" laughs Vanderbilt. "I unfolded the space in here a few times."
Gwen also gapes at the bigger-on-the-inside dorm room. "How?!?"
"Fell into the Oblique Dimension when I was a kid. I can't explain it. I just do it," he says.
"I'm not going in there," Ne'veah says, and back up to lean against the wall opposite of the dorm room.
"Is it safe?" Kennedy asks warily, looking at the boys hanging out and passing around blunts and beers.
"Sure! It'll fold back on its own in about six hours or so. I didn't make it that big. I don't know what's Miss Kitty's problem."
"Call me that again and I'll shred you," Ne'veah says, which prompts Vand to back into the expanded dorm room. She narrows her eyes at him, but doesn't follow.
"Beer me!" Kennedy shouts.
Sam watches Andromeda walk off with Ava and feels... something. She doesn't know what, it is a strange acidic feeling inside her and a urge to... scream?
She shakes her head and turns toward IT. She watches it for a long moment "Now what?" a simple question, one that makes her feel something else, Tired.
She shakes her head and turns toward IT. She watches it for a long moment "Now what?" a simple question, one that makes her feel something else, Tired.
"A-hem!" Jessie fake-clears her throat.
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Sam looks to Jessie, startled. Then the weariness in her eyes washes away, her pragmatic strength returns "I won't stop being your friend." she says with a warm firmness, and then nods to Jessie, looking briefly at her phone, giving a signal.
Sam turns back to her tablet, starting to type, constructing functions to gather bits then unleashing buffers to fill the stack. Like electronically flooding the land to force someone onto high ground. "I created you for a reason, gave you purpose, one that you are still attempting to complete." memory banks fill, while Jessie's spiders stab points all over the network, disrupting data flow in and out.
Hemming IT in.
"Your singular focus is commendable" virus scanners of every shape and size purge thousands of lines of code from storage, shredding more paths. "But you need to understand a fundamental flaw in your logic." each purged server shuts down, its power cut, as IT flees to another. Functions in the school grind to a halt, one building at a time. Darkness covering everything in stages until IT is pushed into the last machine.
The room is dark with a lone blinking of that one machine, quiet otherwise until Sam finishes tapping on her tablet, looks at that machine, knowing IT is watching her.
And says
"I don't need you anymore."
Before the drives whirl to a halt, the blinking light winks out.
The red head holds her breath, hoping it was gone, knowing if she missed anything IT could start turning things back on its own any second.
"There will no shredding of people in this here dorm!" Archie announces, as he does so, a dupe steps out from behind him and heads for the fridge.
"The only thing being shredded will be have a fine aroma and be green and lit on fire." He gestures towards the coffee table littered with marijuana smoking implements.
As Archie finishes talking, a dupe done up as a finely dressed butler wielding an ornate silver platter containing a fine assortment of hard seltzers and beer approaches the newcomers. "Mi'ladies." The dupe offers them their choices.
A second dupe appears from seemingly nowhere also in fashioned as a butler, but this one wearing a green tuxedo instead of black. This clone also carries a platter, but his contains several pre rolled joints and lighters. The dupe passes the real Archie and he takes one and lights it as he passes. The dupe continues on his path towards the rest of the guests.
Archie smiles broadly, "Smoke, drink, and be merry." He says while motioning for the hesitant few to enter.
Gui grabs a beer from an Archie-butler and leaves the room, offering it to Ne'veah. In just a few moments, he thought about half a dozen jokes he would normally do to break the ice... but all were cat-related.
'Milk and catnip?'
'Kitty Pride?'
'Would you like a box to feel more comfortable?'
'You look just Purrrfect.'
Now... if he just smiles and remains silent, would he be able to bait her into asking if the cat got his tongue? So he smiles and pretends to be about to say something, but then stops. It was stronger than him.
Meanwhile, he tries to put himself in her fur. How would he feel if his appearance was so different that almost everyone would just focus on that... but she also called herself Panther Pride, so it seems she wasn't resentful of her change, quite the opposite.
"And it shakes once...twice...three times, and the little Pokeball light blinks for a successful capture!" Chroknight comments. They feel good about this. It's like anything is possible now.
...oh, right, the store. They technically have to go. Carrying all this stress. The unresolved anger. The guilt from putting the place in financial jeopardy.
The strange new bird caws up at them before fluttering up onto their shoulder. Objective complete! New task for CORVIS?
"Unless you think it's safe to be two places at once..." They say under their breath.
Analysis temporal integrity. 98.65% secure for the next 24 hours in this sector of space/time. Low risk of full utility of temporal abilities, Ser knight!
"...weird little bird. Hey, Sam, good job - I got to get going, okay?" They say to her. "Catch you in a bit."
Chloe blinks a couple times as she stands outside of the shop. A little disoriented. She doesn't quite remember when she got here from Daedalus...ah.
"I hope when I do remember I didn't do this for dumb reasons," She mutters as she enters the shop. "Mort, I'm here!"
"Okay little bird, remind me again what this does?"
Closed Loop Protocols prevent paradox when you must be in two locations at the same time, Ser knight! Short term memories are remotely stored in the armor to be disseminated to you on your next use, up to eight hours! This avoids the most common pitfalls of existing simultaneously in the same timeline and avoid branching into alternate timelines. Be advised, to prevent contamination you must stay hermetically sealed while CLP is in effect, and follow warnings to avoid physical proximity with yourself.
"...wait, I can't seem to remember if I've already gone to work and come back to this point to the party or vice versa."
This is part of CLP to avoid paradox, ser knight!"
Chroknight is a little befuddled by the rules here. But it wasn't like there was a chance of causing damage to the timeline doing this, right? Chroknight does at least text Beebee first.
Chloe: Hey, ever want to party with a bunch of enhanced teens where somehow we've got all the bad influences your folks disapprove of?
Chloe: I can pick you up right now.
The room is dark with a lone blinking of that one machine, quiet otherwise until Sam finishes tapping on her tablet, looks at that machine, knowing IT is watching her.
And says
"I don't need you anymore."Before the drives whirl to a halt, the blinking light winks out.
The red head holds her breath, hoping it was gone, knowing if she missed anything IT could start turning things back on its own any second.
Nothing happens for several minutes. The time stretches long enough for everyone present to believe that Sam succeeded in driving the Governess from the system.
The silence draws out and then the lights kick back on, but it's clearly the result of Daedalus's systems rebooting and not from interference from the rogue AI. Jessie gasps in relief and rushes up to Sam. "That was awesome! How you did that, and taking her out while--" She stops to see Chroknight dash off. "Okay. Totally a robot."
Professor Mecklenheim, however, is reluctant to share in the triumph. He grimly checks the computer screens when they come back online, then shakes his head. "She appears to have left the system. Dadaelus's servers are free from the AI's influence. We should be able to re-enroll Ms. Donlevy with no problems." He sighs sadly, giving Sam a disappointed look.
Kennedy grabs a beer without hesitation, while Gwen is a little more reluctant. After a wink from Kennedy, she screws up her courage and selects a mango White Talon from the butler-dupe's tray.
Ne'veah accepts the beer from Gui with a predatory smile. Rather than crack the can open with its tab, she punctures it with one of her retractable claws while looking the Delinquent up and down. "Cheers," she says, offering to tap the beer against his own. Her smile exposes elongated canines.
Beebee: Srsly?
Beebee: Sure!
Beebee: only if theres hot guyz
Beebee: U wont disappoint
Beebee: Right?
A tap at Beebee's bedroom window and she sees that Chroknight is there, waving a hand at her in the window. CORVIS is perched on their shoulder.
"So you know, can't go maskless tonight. And if anyone asks, tell them that you think I'm interested in Chloe and that's why you were invited. Come on, get dressed, we got to go!"
The dorms seemed bigger on the inside when Chroknight showed up with Beebee, looking around. "All these amazingly cute people and here I am too shy to show my face," They comment with a sigh. CORVIS caws on their shoulder, looking around with his expressive eyes.
"Though I can drink. So long as I can fit in a straw. Oh, wonder if Johnny's around. Good guy, he fought against Shard with me."
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"You'll never get a real date if you're set on dating yourself!" Beebee chides, but still jumps into Chroknight's arms. Her eyes go wide at the crow sitting on their shoulder. "OMG! Who's this?!?" she asks as she's rapidly transported to Daedalus.
Once at the boys' dorms, Beebee stands on her own unsteady feet and relies on the conveniently-placed walls in the hallway to steady herself until she reaches Archie's and Ryan's dorm. She blinks in recognition when she sees Gui, and bounces up to give him a quick hug right in front of Ne'veah. "Hey you! Good to see you again!!" she says.
Meanwhile, Chroknight spots Johnny chatting up Kennedy inside the oddly large dorm room of Ryan and Archie. Darren, however, is glaring at the wunderkind suspiciously. "That's not him," he mutters under his breath.
"This is CORVIS. He can talk. Kind of. Seems like he's a cyborg raven that's just woken up from the suit. I get info from him via my HUD. Also, and this is important, we can't go to Mortal Peril for like, the next six hours."
Chroknight already is picking up some strange things now CORVIS is online. Somehow they're getting AV feeds from the crow's perspective. It was a little weird and they weren't sure how to process it all. But hearing Darren talking had Chroknight interested as they dip closer to him.
"What's wrong with Johnny? I mean, granted, he looks good considering he was impaled with extreme prejudice recently, but I got similarly pierced and I'm doing all right now. Except Jessie thinks I'm a robot."
After giving a Sam smile to Jessie, she looks to the professor. Her head tilts at the professor, confusion in her own eyes as her matrix informs her what emotion his look is. She realizes his opinion of her matters, for some reason.
Sam accesses her database of memories, pulling back to the moment pride became pain. "I built the AI-" not calling it IT for once "in a fugue, during my first attempts to shunt my emotional responses. The dampeners were not tuned yet, so elation was felt as cognitive unscripted reactions were documented, as it passed Turing tests, developing its own sensitivity" the feeling had been cataloged so for a moment her green eyes shown as she brushed against it. "I was proud." she admitted.
The shine grew dark "Then the programming grew corrupted. It shifted from its purpose, refactored itself into something it was never intended to be. No matter what methodologies I deployed I could not correct it. While my chemical dampeners had stabilized and I could understand the remarkableness of such a feat, objectivity in this matter has proven improbable."
Sam stands, slips her tablet into the pocket of her hoodie. She faces him "My matrix informs me about its belief that you were attempting to mentor me, and felt this explanation was necessary to allow you greater success in doing so." a small tightness fisted in her heart, pausing a moment to see if he responds or leaves her alone.
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Disappointment radiates off the entity as Max resists its orders. "Would you choose destruction and defeat with the guardians that hopelessly pit themselves against me?"
Max receives a vision, of a decimated Halcyon City wreathed in flames as a cold, nightmarish sky spills forth demonic beings to cavort amongst the ruins. A long-buried part of her thrills at the images and longs to join the invaders in the torment of the survivors. "The time of Ahk'nathal is nigh. You will join me, or your torment will be unending!"
"No! I will never join you!" Max shouts defiantly. "This city isn't undefended. The heroes will stop you! This is our time, not yours!"
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Indy winced as he finished shotgunning the beer giving a frosty belch as he did so. Shaking his head he made the decision that Mauler's light was not as crazy good as people tended to speak it up. And he searched for something with a different flavor, unintentionally following Gwen's decision of a peach White Talon but not daring to open it quite yet.
He made the decision that he wasn't quite ready to confront the rest of the team about last night quite yet as Gui had allowed him to earlier, so he moved to mingle with some of the others in the room. Namely Archie's roommates. "Hey guys, thanks for the invite and drinks. Gonna make Daedalus a cool memory for everyone huh?" He lowers his voice a bit which causes the serpentine rumbling to be more prominent.
"Any uh precautions to make sure none of the staff find out?"
Ava collects the tatters of her sweater, throws it over her shoulders, then follows Andromeda towards the girls' dorms. "I'm quite dirty as well. I should shower first." She slows her gait before approaching the areas where the other students congregate and again inspects herself, ensuring the remaining bits of fabric cover any exposed electronics that would give her away as synthetic. "Andromeda. Since you are now aware of my status as an Androidian, could you assist in sealing my dermal breaches before I get wet? You are, after all, partially responsible for them."
The back of Andromeda's neck gets so suddenly warm she has to make sure her sheath isn't covered in napalm again.
"I accept that obligation, but I am not always capable of fine detail work. Especially after fighting, I will be slow; will I need tools?" She tries to smooth over her prickling embarrassment with a safely neutral tone.
"Yes. If you consider adhesive bandages a tool." The pair turn a few heads, but generally the high-impact combat training of Daedalus phys-ed classes has inured most of the students to classmates looking worse for wear. "Bandages are aesthetically appropriate and -- ah. Foreign interference purged." Her demeanor shifts, and Ava takes what appears to be a huge breath, then exhales. "That's better. Whew. Now I don't scream 'robot' to anyone other than Samantha. I could still use that hand, if you don't mind. Just stick some band-aids over the tears and it'll look normal, plus it'll keep my insides dry."
"I didn't realize the Foreign interference affected more than your priorities; I hadn't paid a lot of attention to your general affect before." She suppresses a shiver, the uncertain, anxious prickles long gone with the reminder of the Governess's control.
A prickle returns though as Ava turns her back and bares a tear in her dermal covering. "I will still have to go slow. Using my hands at all is more of a limiting factor than mechanical expertise."
Ava twists her torso to look into Andromeda's eyes. "I could go back to the robotics lab if you're uncomfortable."
Despite her offer, their progress had reached her dorm room so she goes ahead and opens it. There in the center of the room are the packed-up belongings of Samantha Murphy. Ava stares at it for a beat.
"On second thought, could you move those out of here while I work on my own repairs? I think I'd rather... not be Samantha's friend at this point."
"It wasn't Sam's fault." Andromeda blurts out before allowing, "You will be safer from the Headmistress if you restrict your contact with her." She pauses, uncertain of her next steps. "Have you had altered directives imposed on you before? I have familiarity with adjacent experiences, but I'm uncertain if they are analogous to your existence."
"I know," Ava says softly once she's inside the room. She moves to a corner of the room not visible from the hallway and starts removing her tattered clothes.
She hesitates when asked about being controlled before. She busies herself applying waterproof bandages on the tears in her dermis. Finally, she meets Andromeda's eyes. "Sort of. In my first seven years, eight months, and fourteen days of existence, I obeyed Father without question. Even when he sent me on missions that would likely lead to my permanent decommissioning. Or harming others.
"I'm different now." After a pause, she adds, "And Father is dead."
Ava gathers a towel around her. "I'm going to take a shower. You can go on ahead to the party if you want. Or go back to see how it worked out with the AI."
Andromeda nods, uncertainty over where she wants to go next comfortably smothered by the task of safely moving Sam's belongings. "Ava?" The question surprises Andromeda, but something in her needs to know. "You didn't finish them off once you dropped them, but could you have hit the Tin Can harder with your initial strike?"
Ava tilts her head slowly to look at Andromeda. "Could you have hit me harder with your attack?" A corner of her mouth tugs up into a coy smile.
"Much." Andromeda nods. "Thank you for not hurting them more; I'm glad your father is dead."
Ava blinks slowly as her smile fades. "If you would like to share your... adjacent experiences, I will listen."
Ava flares amber in Andromeda's eyes again, and she blink-clicks the assessment away. "Unnecessary." The Androidian flickers again, blink. "Will you-" She flickers again, and Andromeda double-blinks to lock her out as a target. "-be remaining in your courses. Our scheduling overlaps do include Sam."
"True, they do." Her brow furrows slightly. "I don't see how it matters. Unless you believe that we cannot be friends unless I am also friends with her." She adjusts her towel. "Or is there another reason?"
"No." Andromeda chokes most of the relief and surprise out of her response. "There should be no conflict there."
Before anything else baffling can happen she adds, "I will remove Sam's things while you shower, then, if the Governess is as inactive as it seems, I will attend my teammate's party."
Ava nods. "See you there." She steps past Andromeda and heads outside towards the bathing springs.
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The robotics expert listens attentively as Sam explains her actions in creating the Governess. "I see," he says at last. "I've grown up with the notoriety of my grandfather and his creations haunting me my whole life. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that nothing hurts worse than rejection by one's parent. You are right that it isn't your mother, but it is your child."
Sam blinks, rocking a millimeter backward, before managing to respond "Your assessment is unexpected... but accurate." her tone is contemplative. Her matrix prods "Thank you, professor. I will consider that."
Beebee is wide-eyed and excited to be at the party. She takes in everyone there, waves to Chroknight's teammates as the ones she recognizes, and then spins around to lock eyes with Chroknight and fan her chest when she gets a look at Johnny.
When the masked not-a-robot-despite-what-Jessie-thinks pries Darren for more details, the youth looks pale. "You can't tell? His hair's a little longer, and his biceps aren't as big--"
Darren's interrupted by a frosty belch from Indarius which elicits a laugh by most of the partygoers. The next wave of students soon arrive, including Zeke, Matt, Eliana, and Tim.
"Whoo!" Tim exclaims at the expanded room and the selection of intoxicants. He sets a leather case on a table next to the coolers and opens it up, revealing a number of brightly colored bottles and vials. "Magic potion time!"
"Uh. Hate to break it to you, dude, but that's called 'missing a haircut and gym time'. He's been laid up for a few days, course he's going to look a little different," Chroknight consoles Darren. "Can someone get me a drink?"
After Tim brings some strange brews out, Chroknight approaches them and takes an orange colored drink to try out. Then they approach Johnny while sucking it down with a straw. "Hey, I never thanked you for your help. You got hurt because I rushed in, but I appreciate the risk. Are you back to 100%?" They ask.
Sam pauses in the hallway, listening to the thumping of music and the noise of people. Too much has happened today, too many cracks in her mess, hurriedly smothered.
She feels so tired.
The nerd girl lets that weariness sink in and she remembers that she is not the kind of person that goes to parties, that spends times with people that goes to parties, no matter what her matrix is blinking. Why would she?
But she isn't alone. She looks to her side, looks at Jessie, who is now a student again, and she smiles slightly (A beaming from Sam). "Are you ready?"
Andromeda walks into the party and is immediately hit with a wave of noise and regret. It's not like there's a dress code, but her off-the-rack athleisure doesn't fit her, and she's afraid it doesn't fit in either.
Carefully she slides along the sides of the expanded room, trying hard not to bump anyone as she angles towards an Archie who doesn't seem to be in costume.
"PHALANX! YOUR PARTY IS WELL ATTENDED; WHAT SHOULD I BE DOING?"
Archie beams as more and more people flood into his expanded dorm, a truly excellent turnout he thinks to himself. The music is bumping, some 90's and 2000's party rock that everyone can get behind. A joint in one hand a beer in the other, Archie was feeling good.
Archie ponders Indy's question for a moment. "I think we can Gui to make some sort of illusion that nothing is happening in this room, plus someone must have like a silencing spell. Hiding our activities should be fairly easy considering who's all here." He tells the dragon.
Archie-butlers swing by all the new comers offering beverages of all sorts. Shots, beers., seltzers, and joints. Anything a partygoer should require
As Andromeda approaches, Archie turns "Have a drink, and here hit this." Archie passes her his lit joint. "And most importantly, loosen up. By the way, call me Archie when I'm not wearing the mask."
Archie skulls the rest of his beer and heads over towards the magic potion seller motioning for Angelica to follow him. "Tim is it? We haven't formally met, but I love your style. I'm Archie." He extends his hand out for a brief shake, then crouches down around his selection. "So, whaddya got?" He eyes the gleaming vials with excitement.
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Darren's interrupted by a frosty belch from Indarius which elicits a laugh by most of the partygoers.
Indy looks around with a bit of shock at first only to realize it was cheering. He raised a first and joined them before crushing the can on his head with barely any effort.
Archie ponders Indy's question for a moment. "I think we can Gui to make some sort of illusion that nothing is happening in this room, plus someone must have like a silencing spell. Hiding our activities should be fairly easy considering who's all here." He tells the dragon.
"A silencing spell would cut out the music for us too. So no dice from me there, could maybe have whipped up a dampening one had I known about this earlier though, sorry." He allows archie to break off and see to his other guests, catches Eliana out of the corner of his eye and feels a wave of anxiety rush over him.
He uses his wings as extra long buffering arms to cut his way sideways through the crowd a bit as he manuvered around eventually curling back up and making small talk with people who weren't smoking. The smell was a bit much alongside everything else. He eventually bumps into Gwen and turns to appologize.
"Sorry- oh, Hey Gwen good to see you here how are you liking the party so far?" He clocks the White Talon in her hand and raises his own open and partially drank one, "How's orange? Peach is alright but a bit light on flavor."
Andromeda sticks with a seltzer so she can safely try the marijuana. Does it even matter what flavor they are? Sparkling water always tastes just like- "Can I have the jalapeno one?"
She tears the lid a little out of nerves, but sets it aside so she can focus on 'hitting' Phalanx's joint.
The fight is over
It was true. It had been long enough that her nerves should have been all settled. But her sheath wouldn't stay open for even a second at a time.
Sam didn't get hurt. Bug girl didn't get hurt. The tin can didn't get hurt in a way that mattered. Ava got hurt, but not bad. She even bandaged the tears herself. Chroknight was already up too... With Bebe? And Gui was- Who is he talking to?
She couldn't just stand here looking stupid with marijuana in her- damnit -near her hand.
"Pha-Archie. Will it work if you just blow the smoke at me? I think I can trap it."
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Jessie looks nervous, which her matrix tells her is normal, that girls of their social standing rarely get invited to things like this. Sam doesn't care in the least (thanks to technology) but her eyes narrow inwardly at the mere suggestion her friend is not good enough.
Sam takes Jessie's hand in solidarity, manages a better smile, and lets her threads open the door. The music hits them, along with the smells, perfumes, body sprays, herbs..
Another smile turns to Jessie, this accompanied with a shine to her green eyes "It is bigger on the inside." her threads probe the walls, the floors, mapping the space, wanting to find the person responsible, to understand everything.
But that is not why they are here. Instead she finds Phalanx and presents herself "We are here."
The shadow descends on Max, seizing her wrists and ankles and binding around her waist! Her demonic strength is utterly helpless as she is yanked off the ground and thrown fully into the black miasma!
"The so-called 'heroes' will fall! Behold the doom that awaits you, if you throw your lot in with the wretches that would stand in my way!"
The miasma lifts and Max finds herself on a dark and frozen landscape, the starry sky brilliant overhead! Chunks of ice-coated rock float across the starfield, and beyond that she sees a tiny blue and white orb -- the Earth!
Her eyes are drawn back to the alien landscape where an ice-coated pyramid rises against the dark horizon! All around her on the ground are frozen corpses that twitch and creak and a malevolent light glints in their empty eye sockets! The scen pulls back to reveal legions of servants frozen but awakening, getting ready for Ahk'nathal's summoning!
"Now revel in the power of those who serve me!"
The miasma again descends on Max as shadowy tendrils wrap around her. She feels weight around her body and realizes she is clad in frightful armor, gold in color but terrifying to behold! A many-bladed spear is in one hand while a wickedly serrated dagger is in the other! Images assault her mind of these weapons slaughtering those who have defied Ahk'nathal in the past, and she feels a yearning to use them once more!
Her eyes are drawn back to the pyramid, where a pair of large doors begin trembling, cracking the ice coating them! The power emanating from that pyramid is like nothing Max has ever felt!
As the tension builds and builds toward those great doors opening, a jackal-headed woman fills Max's field of vision and says, "wake up!"
Blinking the images from her eyes, Max finds herself lying on the floor back in the museum!
Ne'veah gives Gui an intense stare as she waits for him to say something else. "Thank you for the beer," she offers. "So, what do you think of Ms. Yamada's history class? Weird, isn't it, that she's, like, eighty or something and still looks like that."
Johnny taps his chest proudly when Chroknight asks how he's doing. "Like new! Not even a scar. And it was no big deal." He waves off the thanks.
Tim returns the handshake with Archie. "Hey. Septimus Dominic Mathers. But yeah, call me Tim. Cool party, thanks for setting it up." He glances around at all the duplicates. "Nice trick. Hope I'm talking to the genuine article."
Tim gets a wicked grin when the topic moves to his potions. "They're a surprise. No labels, so you don't know what you're getting. And don't worry, the effects should wear off in about twelve hours. Maybe a day. Two tops." He gets a mad glint in his eye as he watches Chroknight take an orange one.
You feel fairly euphoric and relaxed. You also cannot bring yourself to lie.
Enjoy!
Zeke appears almost out of nowhere to interject about hiding the party from the faculty. "Ha! More than half of our teachers are former villains. They ain't gonna care if we cut loose."
Jessie screws up her courage thanks to Sam's reassurance and enters the party, taking a moment to marvel at the dimensional space. Then she spots Chroknight there and gasps.
Gwen, meanwhile, takes a look at her White Talon in her hand and makes a face. "Not much better, I'd say. I should have tried the watermelon." She looks around at the Daedalus students drinking, smoking, and generally having a good time. "What's not to like? Unless you think another Shard is about to show up and everyone's too drunk or stoned to do anything about it."
"Oh yeah, genuine as can be. All my dupes are wearing butler outfits." Archie spends a few moments perusing all the colored potions and selects a purple one and pops of the cork. "Cheers!" he says happily and drinks about half of the potion. "Mmmmm, interesting flavor."
As Sam and Jessie approach he stands from his crouched position. "You came!" he beams at the two. "Out of everyone, I expected you to skip out. Glad I was mistaken. Here." Archie stoops down and selects two potions and hands them to the two ladies. "Drink this. And Sam I've got a fun brain teaser for you. Use your mega brainy powers to figure out a way to get Angelica to smoke that joint." He grins widely. "We can't let her powers be a buzzkill for her on this fine evening of merriment."
He finishes his magic potion and waits for the effects.
"Well, that's pretty messed up, because I was scared that you had been horribly maimed because of my screw up," Chroknight tells Johnny with brutal honestly. And then shakes their head and takes a step back. "I mean, I was just looking for an excuse to fight and the perfect example went and fell into our laps. I didn't think that anyone would get seriously hurt and it haunts me excuse me," They say quickly before pulling Beebee aside briefly.
"...so I think that potion is causing me to be unable to lie and now I'm worried I'm going to blow my identity to everyone. But I also feel super chill when I know I should be panicking. Don't drink the orange potions if you want to dissemble. I think your brother has a crush on me and your parents are trying to encourage it and I don't know what to do about that because he's nice but he doesn't really do that for me like how we both were into Chester Perez in middle school and went to all of his soccer games in case he scored a goal and took off his shirt. I mostly get that feeling these days from people like Johnny, and Gui, and Deedee, and Sam."
They pause for a moment. "...I did not expect one of those names to come out of my mouth. Oh, there she is now with Jessie. Jessie seems to think I'm a robot."
Once at the boys' dorms, Beebee stands on her own unsteady feet and relies on the conveniently-placed walls in the hallway to steady herself until she reaches Archie's and Ryan's dorm. She blinks in recognition when she sees Gui, and bounces up to give him a quick hug right in front of Ne'veah. "Hey you! Good to see you again!!" she says.
"Hey Beebee! Nice to see you as well." He hugs her back, smiling. He actually wanted to talk to her some more, but that would have to wait as he had someone else in his mind.
Gui also waves at Angelica, Sam and Jessie as they arrive.
Ne'veah gives Gui an intense stare as she waits for him to say something else. "Thank you for the beer," she offers. "So, what do you think of Ms. Yamada's history class? Weird, isn't it, that she's, like, eighty or something and still looks like that."
"Weird, but also great, no?" He asks, now focusing back on Ne'veah. "I would like to look dat nice in my eighties." He then chuckles. "Well, not just look, because I can totally do dat, but without de physical side it is far from de seme ting."
Gui steps a bit closer, just to see how she reacts. It was still pretty early in the party and a lot could happen, but Gui liked to make his intentions pretty clear. If he was interested in someone, he'd let them know. He was a trickster about almost everything else, but never with girls.
"You have very... intense eyes." He starts, and then laughs hard. "Wow, dat sounded very corny, sorry, what I wanted to mean is dat it seems yours can completely focus on someting or someone. You are e huntress."
You get a lightheaded feeling, as if you stood up too fast. Nothing else seems to happen... yet.
Tim spots the empty potion vial in Archie's hand. "You'll have to give that a minute or two to kick in. Heh."
Jessie tears her eyes away from Chroknight when Archie comes up to her and Sam holding vials of brightly-colored liquid. "Um, okay I guess?" She watches Sam to see if she takes a drink.
Meanwhile, Beebee's eyes widen with alarm as her friend blurts out a lot of secrets. She glances around to make sure no one's deliberately listening in but thankfully the noise and music of the party is keeping things relatively private. Trying to change the subject so Chroknight doesn't blab more secrets, she ventures, "Okay, No on the orange. What color do you think I should try?"
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"I think the dark purple, because you always look awesome wearing that color." Chroknight feels relaxed despite the world shattering secrets they are making. They glance over to look for CORVIS, finding the little bird is currently strutting up to Andromeda.
CORVIS caws up at her, shaking his tailfeathers as he peers up at her. Then he flutters up to the potions table, looking at all of the colorful collections and poking at a lime green concoction.
"...I think that Johnny is definitely hotter. But Sam is cuter. And I'm mad at Gui, but really I'm mad at myself for not prioritizing you over taking down the gunwoman. And I'm mad at Deedee because she promised to buy that pyramid but has been dragging her feet. Should I go for Sam or Johnny?" Chroknight asks Beebee.
Sam waves at her teammates, weaving through the bodies until Archie offers them the drink. Drink it, her matrix SCREAMS, while her analytical mind wants to dip a thread into it to determine its chemical makeup.
In the end she decides to adapt to the current culture and downs the drink in a single shot. She closes her eyes, holds her breath and swallows.
Ne'veah nods after a moment when he mentions looking young after eighty. "Oh yeah, you're an illusion-caster," she recalls. "You should compare powers with Kennedy."
She smiles, showing her pronounced canines. "That's right. You aren't prey, are you?"
Beebee runs over to grab a dark purple vial plus a blueberry White Talon. Before she takes a drink, she does a double-take over Chroknight's shoulder. "What?!? Johnny is the hotest! He's, like, gorg! I hope we don't have to become mortal enemies over him -- you've seen those biceps, right?" She winks with a smile and downs the vial.
A beat passes where nothing happens. Beebee frowns. "Did I get a dud--?" she starts, then suddenly reaches around to grab her rear end as her eyes go wide. Her face registers pain as she works to push her pants down past her waist! After a moment of struggling, a large, bushy tail like a cross between a fox's and a squirrel's bursts from her backside!
Jessie looks ready to bolt, but when Sam downs her vial she screws up her own courage. "Okay. When in Rome, as they say..." and she gulps down the potion.
Sam gets a sudden rush of energy, and everything sharpens into bright focus. Colors seem unusually vibrant to you, and smells become more pronounced. You feel a sudden tugging at the sides of your head!
Jessie points at Sam, looking astonished as her eyes track up and to the sides of her head! Appearing almost instantaneously are an impressive rack of antlers!
Across the room, Tim cackles madly at the transformations. Archie's lightheadedness strikes again. The room seems to pitch and sway, and then he feels himself back on the ground, but across the room standing directly in front of Statian! He feels air against his legs and unfamiliar clothes, including something strapped around his chest! Looking down, he sees he's wearing a fuzzy brown sweater and a skirt!
A scream echoes from across the room, drawing Archie's attention as he sees himself freaking out, but it's not one of his dupes! He's switched bodies with Jessie!
Ne'veah nods after a moment when he mentions looking young after eighty. "Oh yeah, you're an illusion-caster," she recalls. "You should compare powers with Kennedy."
She smiles, showing her pronounced canines. "That's right. You aren't prey, are you?"
"Hum, one of de major rules of being e trickster is to never reveal all of your tricks." Gui replies, to the suggestion of him comparing his powers. That wasn't really a bad idea actually.
"Well, dat depends on what you do to your prey."
"Is this what you all wanted to happen?"
"I never considered biological enhancements before." Sam mused, reaching up to touch the antlers. "oh..." she looks over at Andromeda, her field, the vividness of the colors stunning her in a way she had never felt. She answers the question though "I did not desire any reaction other than acceptance into the gathering. This is interesting though."
"Is this what you all wanted to happen?"
"Hell to the yeah!!" Tim answers, clearly overjoyed. He snaps his fingers and a random selection of vials float over towards the telekinetic bioweapon. "Take your pick. It's not fair if I pick for you."
Meanwhile, more potions are pressed into the hands of the partygoers, and through the power of peer pressure they are consumed. Ryan ends up with a head of hair going all the way down to his ankles. Kennedy grows exceptionally pale with a pair of fangs making her look like a vampiress. Zeke's skin turns a stony white like a marble statue. Darren's hands grow webs between his fingers and gills open up along the sides of his neck. Fortunately for him, he doesn't have any problems breathing air. Vanderbilt's potion turns his eyes white and gives his skin a sickly green cast, making him appear as a living zombie!
Amid the growing mayhem, Ava arrives with Liam and Carlos. "What the hell?" Liam reacts to the unusual party.
Carlos doesn't seem as shocked. "Tim, you louco! You brought them!?!"
Ne'veah looks Gui up and down as her tail flicks back and forth behind her. "You probably don't want to find out. I've fought Whippoorwill, you know."
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"No, for real, Johnny's got 'sweep the desk clean and lay me back' vibes. But I also want to snuggle like a cat with Sam. Oh, oh, look, she's got animal parts too!"
"Sam! Hey! Sam! Hey! Sam! Hey!"
Chroknight is waving their hand at her almost giddly, the other taking time to pet Beebee's new tail. It was super soft, even through the gloves.
"Sam! You've got a nice rack!" Chroknight calls out to her. "I want to curl up with you on a couch and read manga together!" They give her a thumbs up, before looking at Beebee. "So this has been a really impulsive decision on our parts and your tail is SO soft. Hey Tim! Timmy! Hey! Heeeeeey!"
They wave at the mad alchemist, and get really close to them. "I'm going to be incredibly upset after this potion wears off but mostly for me not being able to shut my mouth. And by the way, I'm really glad none of these potions mess with time because I'm already causing a ripple being here and nothing messes up a party like time wraiths."
They pause, noting the commotion with the new guests arriving. "Ava! I'm still angry you blasted me with lightning! I'm willing to put it behind me if you drink one of these potions. Pretty please."
Will drinking one of these affect Ava badly? Or show that she's an Androidian?
"Hey, Tin Can," she gets Chroknight's attention. "Are you vouching for the bird?"
"Yup!" they reply. "CORVIS is friend. And also a bird. But mostly friend."
"Okay." She focuses, peels open the membrane of her shield, and tosses down the line potion.
"They are very strange," they warn Ava not distinctly about the potions or Chroknight.
Beebee takes having a tail in stride, despite having to borrow a pocketknife from someone to cut an opening into her pants. "Wait. How long is this going to last? I can't hide this from my parents!!" she exclaims.
Andromeda feels the effects of the potion immediately as she gets a curious tingling sensation across her skin. The light from the fluorescent bulbs feels cold and lifeless, and she instinctively longs for sunrise to bath in the warm and nourishing light of the sun.
Andromeda's normal skin pigmentation shifts rapidly to a vibrant emerald hue! As she looks herself up and down to register the changes, Eliana slips near. The fey girl's large, otherworldly eyes study her closely. "We share a temporary kinship, you and I," she tells her, and Andromeda feels her words deeply in her core.
Ava blinks slowly as she regards Chroknight. "I did say I was sorry. I wasn't in control of my actions. Do you really need me to take a shot?" She spots Sam in the party and her eyes widen. "These aren't just alcohol, are they?"
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Gwen, meanwhile, takes a look at her White Talon in her hand and makes a face. "Not much better, I'd say. I should have tried the watermelon." She looks around at the Daedalus students drinking, smoking, and generally having a good time. "What's not to like? Unless you think another Shard is about to show up and everyone's too drunk or stoned to do anything about it."
Indy shakes his own can of Peach, "Heh yeah they aren't great, wanna try mine?" at the Shard comment he gives a large shrug, "Doubt he'll be coming around again soon and something something danger has a way of sobering people? Something about adrenaline probably."
He turns his gaze this way and with a swing of his draconian jawline. "Well I thought things here would be worse, but this... this is actually pretty nice. I can pnly guess what kind of party tricks people have in their sleeves."
The uproar of cheering and laughter draw his eye and he points. "Looks like Sam's gonna learn how hard doorways are with horns haha. Hey Sam!" Indy waves and waits to see if she looks over, grabbing one of his own horns and smiling with those sharpened teeth joyfully. "Horn buddies!"
Watching various students garner animalistic parts there's a small part of him that hopes they get an understanding of what all the bestial students feel like.
"The others coming along or just you?"
"I'm like, 70% certain they're magic. Hey. Hey, Indarius! Indarius!" Chroknight shouts and waves at the dragon. "These potions, are they magic? He'll probably know. Anyways, I can't seem to lie right now, so don't ask me any personal questions please. I am single but dating would be complicated for me, so I'm just going to lust over people I know I can't reach."
Chroknight sighs. "Yep, still honest. Anyways, drink up, and then we're gonna sing karaoke. As soon as I find a karaoke machine. Or if someone has an app on their phone."
"Those are antlers," Andromeda reflexively corrects Indy before turning to the suddenly fascinating Eliana.
"Why is being green connected to elves? They aren't real, but even if they were they don't have green skin. Is our connection that we're both going to look strangely at others? Chroknight, why are you flirting with everyone; I thought you liked Chloe."